Forum

Activities 2011-2012

September 30, 2011: Mexican theologian Eleazar Lopéz on Indigenous Theology. Click here for a summary of the Forum.

October 19, 2011: Brazilian ecotheologian Marcelo Barros on the Belgian Liberation theologian José Comblin.

November 16, 2011: Peruvian Pedro Hidalgo Díaz, Rector of the University of Lima, on 'Theological Endeavours in Peru.'

November 30, 2011: Indian theologian Michael Amaladoss SJ: 'How does the tension between the socio-economic development and religion in India influence the way its Christian theologians think?' Click here for a summary and pictures of the Forum.

December 8, 2011: Our students (master and doctoral) Nicolas Van Cayzeele and Anneleen Decoene on Queer Theology: 'Intersectionality & Theology: Questioning Normativity'.

Forum of Liberation Theologies (FLT): Programme Statement

The Forum for Liberation Theology is one of the projects of the Centre for Liberation Theology, a research center of the Faculty of Theology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The meetings offer a forum for the examination and discussion of contemporary issues and events of international importance from a liberationist perspective. These informal sessions provide both students and professors an alternative learning experience outside the formal-academic classroom atmosphere. The Forum gives us the opportunity to be confronted with the day to day realities of the lives of the poor, their actual struggles and the global socio-economic, political and cultural contexts which hinder or facilitate their liberation. Through this exploration of diverse issues, we are also challenged to open ourselves to the wide-ranging depths of religious experience especially from the perspective of the poor, to test the pertinency of our theological understanding and to incorporate all these into the formation of our theological thinking.

The meetings of the Forum are scheduled approximately once each month throughout the academic year. The various topics for the year are decided in the beginning of the year at a General Meeting which is both an evaluation and planning session. In this brainstorming activity, the group's diverse concerns, interests and issues are brought to the fore and are deliberated, areas of interest are highlighted for the coming year. The presenters include guests who are invited by the group, as well as students and professors from within the group or from the wider academic community. The Forum also takes advantage of the presence of speakers/authors engaged in the work of liberation and contextualization, mostly from the Third World, who happen to be visiting Europe.

The Forum participants consist of a wide and diverse cross-section of the Leuven academic community and beyond. While the idea of liberation certainly underlies much of what we do, participation is not limited to those having expertise in academic theologies of liberation. Rather our meetings also seek opportunities to meet and engage the group's rich diversity of interests, cultures, experiences and perspectives. Most of the participants are master's and doctoral students of the Faculty of Theology. Occasionally, however, students and professors from other faculties and friends from outside the university community also attend the meetings.

The Forum regularly meets in the Romero Room of the faculty of theology (COVE 02.10).